In Regents President Jamie Koch's op-ed published in the Albuquerque Journal on Feb. 4, he made two statements that I would like to address. First, he claimed that tenure and tenure-track faculty members on the UNM Main Campus make "an average of more than $94,000 in salary" per year, and second, that these same faculty members are "contracted to work for 189 days per year" and are given an additional "39 personal days per year to devote to outside interests and pursuits." These statements imply two things: 1) UNM professors are exceptionally well paid, and 2) in return, they do relatively little work. I take great issue with both of these implications.
I will address the salary issue first. The more-than-$94,000 figure reported by Koch is blatantly inaccurate; this figure includes benefits (retirement), which Koch failed to state in his article. According to the 2007-08 New Mexico Council of University Presidents' annual Performance Effectiveness Report, UNM and other New Mexico university salaries "still remain significantly lower than average salaries at peer institutions." According to this report, UNM faculty members are paid approximately 10 percent less than their peers at similar institutions. In addition, Koch fails to note that many professors secure grant monies for UNM that far exceed the amount of their salaries.
I am more deeply offended by the implication in Koch's letter that professors work relatively few days per year to earn their pay. Although it is technically true that most tenured and tenure-track faculty have 189-days-per-year contracts, Koch's failure to qualify that statement implies that either he lacks a basic knowledge of University culture, or his statements were purposely misleading to the general public. I am not sure which is worse. I have yet to meet a single professor who works only 189 days per year. Not only do professors work exceptionally long hours during the semester, they typically work for much of the summer, frequently for no compensation. In addition, it was news to me that I receive 39 personal days per year. I certainly hope those days are accruing somewhere, and as I supposedly only work 189 days per year, I am nearly due for a year off.
Here is an example of the reality of professorial life: During the past seven days, I worked approximately 67 hours, including all of Saturday and half of Sunday. Here is how I spent some of my time: reviewing research articles for scholarly journals, preparing an article of my own work for publication, constructing take-home exams for my graduate class, revising lectures for my undergraduate class, advising undergraduate students, meeting virtually with research colleagues across the country, advising a student group that is organizing fundraisers to benefit individuals with communication disorders, completing paperwork to enable me to conduct research on human participants, meeting with the six students who work in my research lab, meeting with my thesis student, analyzing research data, editing videos to enhance my classes, coordinating a trip to Mexico City for our graduate students and dealing with e-mails. E-mail is its own full-time job: answering student questions, scheduling meetings, giving advice to parents of children who have communication disorders, etc. And this week, I did not collect any research data. That process will be starting again soon, and my semester promises to become nothing but busier.
As for my so-called summer off: I co-supervised a trip to Mexico City in which we took eight graduate speech-language pathology and occupational therapy students to a school for children with severe to profound disabilities, conducted research at a two-week camp for children with communication disorders and their families, spent a week at an international convention, and spent most of the rest of the summer grappling with the paperwork involved in conducting a multi-site research study. Not only was I not paid for my time for a single one of these activities; I spent much of my own money on the trips that I took.
My workload is not exceptional; it only differs from other professors in the details. I recently read an article that stated that many women are reluctant to become university professors, because they view becoming a professor as a choice to not have a family. They perceive the work hours as too grueling for being conducive to raising a family. This week, one of our brightest graduate students told me, "I never want to be a professor - you work too hard."
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That said, I want to be very clear about the fact that I truly love my job, and I willingly entered into this profession knowing full well what my life would be like. I am passionate about and fulfilled by my work, and I have the daily satisfaction of knowing that I am making a positive contribution to my community and my world. I have teaching opportunities that allow me to help shape future professionals and research opportunities that allow me to create and evaluate programs to help children with severe communication disorders and their families. I do not take issue with my work hours, nor do I take issue with my salary. But I do take issue - very great issue - with the implications that my colleagues and I make exorbitant salaries and that our workloads are light. We are working our hearts out for the well-being of New Mexico and its residents.
So please, Koch, please do not continue to create such a false portrayal of the life of an average professor. It is deeply offensive to all of us who work so hard. It builds ill will in our community, and it undermines university morale - all of which ultimately harm the state of New Mexico as a whole.
Cathy Binger, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department at UNM.
